I am simply amazed at what I see businesses doing to promote themselves, their product or services online.  Even more amazed at the agencies these companies hire to do their promotions.  I have been around advertising for a long time and seen plenty of ridiculous approaches to marketing but none like what I am seeing on in La-La-Land.  Is there a reason for it?

Ghost Tweeting

Come on!?!  Why put forth the time and effort to create a slick looking Twitter page with a powerful logo only to post once a week and NEVER respond to consumers wanting to know more about the product, service..or heaven forbid..finding out who is running the show for the business. 

In a quick poll I made through my ‘A-List’ peeps on Twitter, a whooping 83% report they will block any business trying to Follow them if they are posting only from a Feed API or other client app that is set up to just post links.  Out of the 17% left, 50% of them only let those misguided business follow them for the ‘Number’ (yes, I need to talk to these peeps) and do not see their posts since they use third party clients like Hoot Suite or Tweetdeck that allows them to Follow who they want.

What is the value of having a Twitter Account that a vast majority of REAL people do not see or want to see?  Am I missing something here, or isn’t this effort a complete waste of time and money?

Facebook Page Fever

Geez, is there a limit to how many pages a business can create for their product?  Is there a game that is played that I didn’t get the rule sheet on where you get something for ‘Liking’ a trillion business pages?  Heck, I go to sleep one night, wake up in the morning and my Facebook wall is full of reports of people Liking dozens of Business Pages..WTF? 

When I take a look at the business pages I am told I need to check out all they turn out to be is the exact same thing that is on Twitter and their MO for promoting their products is exactly the same..no response..no interaction.  Is this Marketing?  I don’t think so because I am not buying it.

The Mayor of What?

Now I know GEO locations and the mobile apps for location posting as a way to market is red hot right now and is outstanding to pull foot traffic in to retails.  I am ALL OVER that.  Kudo’s to the master minds who figure out something for all these people sitting around with nothing to do with their smartphone.

However…do I need to know that the local adult beverage rep I am following has now bumped his competitor as the Mayor of the Rest Stop Restroom on I 10 outside Junction, TX?  This just paints an incredible picture in my mind that I know will get me thinking negative thoughts and will draw my attention to the cold brew I am about to raise to my lips thinking whether or not this rep was the person who delivered this can to this bar?  oooooh

Location Marketing is a great way for businesses to get the buzz, but again, enough is enough.  Posting your location every three feet you walk down the street really is not helping you or the location. 

On the other hand, Too much exposure by the business promoting discounts for posting a Tweet on arriving at their location will eventually work against them as well, especially if it starts clogging up the social networks with unwanted posts.

Statistically, there still is only a small percentage of the consumer base in this country that have Smartphones with GEO capabilities.  Yaw, that is hard to believe with all the posts you see on Twitter, but there are still a lot of people just getting to DeskTop apps and the cost of the smartphones with GEO features are just out of reach for many people..especially if they are unemployed. 

That OLD Jealousy factor can sometimes work against a business if there is not a balance of their online promotions.  Getting over zealous with using only geo locations apps for marketing could backfire causing those who have had enough of the noise online to start a campaign of blogs and posts against that business.  Make sure to keep the Online presence dominate to your social media strategies.

BTW: A word up from security agencies…only post your location when you are leaving that location..not when you arrive..it is a lot safer and will throw off the growing number of predators feeding off the people in love with their Geo Location apps.

It is really fun to do business in this new social media driven economy that is being developed.  Yes, it still is a wild west frontier right now, but if more businesses would get smart about what they are doing online the force behind social media marketing will get stronger.  Social Networking your business needs incorrectly could cause unrecoverable damage to your business’ image.  Bottomline: If you are not sure what you are doing..hire someone.  It could save your business.  Let me know how I can help.